I have three Squeezeboxes in my house, since my house has 3 different stereos, and a centralized music server. I run my server on windows XP and i can't change it to linux for multiple reasons. But i have a huge problem. Slimserver it's the best software i found for streaming music but it lacks the fact that i can't stream to different music to different Squeezeboxes, i found a help to run various instances of Slimserver in Linux, but i'm using Windows, please can somebody help me how to run different instances of Slimserver in Windows XP? or is there a pluging that makes Slimserver for different users? like a login

JJZolx

2007-05-28, 12:18

I have three Squeezeboxes in my house, since my house has 3 different stereos, and a centralized music server. I run my server on windows XP and i can't change it to linux for multiple reasons. But i have a huge problem. Slimserver it's the best software i found for streaming music but it lacks the fact that i can't stream to different music to different Squeezeboxes, i found a help to run various instances of Slimserver in Linux, but i'm using Windows, please can somebody help me how to run different instances of Slimserver in Windows XP? or is there a pluging that makes Slimserver for different users? like a login

You can certainly stream different music to different Squeezeboxes from one SlimServer. Or do you mean that you want to have different libraries for the different Squeezeboxes?

It's possible to have multiple instances of SlimServer running on a Windows XP system, but it's very complicated to set up. There's a multi-library plugin available here:

http://erland.homeip.net/download/

fcastillo

2007-05-28, 12:43

Thanks, i'm going to look for that plugin. Another question, you say that you can stream different songs to different Squeezeboxes. What about stream to players like iTunes or Winamp? Can i stream different songs played from the website to different players? that's the main reason of running multiple instances of slimserver so each computer with itunes can access the same library but listen to different songs.

bhaagensen

2007-05-28, 12:57

that's the main reason of running multiple instances of slimserver so each computer with itunes can access the same library but listen to different songs.

In that case why not use the music sharing facility in itunes ? You can also check out this thread:

It's about foobar, but some of the things there could perhaps be relevant for you. I'd suggest looking into softsqueeze.

fcastillo

2007-05-28, 15:54

Thanks for your answer, but the iTunes share facility doesn't work for me because i need the server to be a service not a software. In that case iTunes doesn't work.

JJZolx

2007-05-28, 16:05

In that case why not use the music sharing facility in itunes?

Or just share the folder in Windows and access them directly from iTunes on the other PCs? Can iTunes use a network share?

fcastillo

2007-05-28, 16:25

That's a good idea, but i'm going to try just to share the .xml file from the library to see if it works...
I don't want to share the folder for a main reason, music get disorganize that way, in a website interface the user can access to what i allow them. Sharing folders it's messy, if i put new music, how could they know that new music is there?
I think that running multiple instances of slimserver in windows xp will do the work, does anybody know how to do that?

JJZolx

2007-05-28, 16:35

That's a good idea, but i'm going to try just to share the .xml file from the library to see if it works...
I don't want to share the folder for a main reason, music get disorganize that way, in a website interface the user can access to what i allow them. Sharing folders it's messy, if i put new music, how could they know that new music is there?
I think that running multiple instances of slimserver in windows xp will do the work, does anybody know how to do that?

Wait a minute...

Are you sure you can't stream three separate streams to different computers running iTunes? I think that should work just fine.

You're using the streaming url - something like http://myslimserver:9000/stream.mp3 - correct? And using the web interface to control what plays.

If so, you should be able to connect to the stream from any computer running iTuens (when you first connect, you may hear what someone else is playing - it's fairly awkward) but then you can change the music for the player. As long as they have different IP addresses, the computers will each be identified by a unique IP address. This can be seen in the status frame of the web interface (upper right corner). You can change the player in the web interface, then play or add music targeted to any of the players.

bhaagensen

2007-05-28, 16:44

Can iTunes use a network share?

Don't know. But it implement's DAAP and Avahi so its supposed to be dead easy to share music libraries (which I belive).

fcastillo

2007-05-28, 16:46

Hhhmmm, i'm going to check on that, because everytime i turn in a new pc the server, i could listen to what somebody else is playing, i didn't wait some time to see if i can change the song, and it will change just to my player, i'm going to check that right now.

fcastillo

2007-05-28, 17:36

It seems that i can't do what i want. It was kind of obvious because all the machines use the same url (http;//ipaddress:9000/stream.mp3) to listen to the music, so if one user it's listening to something and another one just logs in, you can change the song but the first user starts listening to another song.

4mula1

2007-05-28, 17:51

Is there a compelling reason you can't use SoftSqueeze?

bhaagensen

2007-05-28, 18:09

It seems that i can't do what i want. It was kind of obvious because all the machines use the same url (http;//ipaddress:9000/stream.mp3) to listen to the music, so if one user it's listening to something and another one just logs in, you can change the song but the first user starts listening to another song.

Are you sure :) After having read JJZolx's post I realize this should work, so I tried. And it works fine. Technically each connection to stream.mp3 creates a seperate data stream. I did:

1. start slimserver
2. Connect to stream.mp3 from machine A
3. Connect to stream.mp3 from macine B
4. Go into the web interface (possibly refresh your browser so it picks up the new players connected). In the top right corner there is a dropdown showing the IP addresses of the machines connected. Then choose A, and play something, change to B in the web interfarce and play something else. Voila!

EDIT: Did you get the dropdown in the web interface where you could choose the different IP's?

fcastillo

2007-05-28, 18:24

Well, there is something wrong with my installation, since i can't see that drop down menu. I'm going to reinstall slimserver to see if i can see that.

bhaagensen

2007-05-28, 18:32

Well, there is something wrong with my installation, since i can't see that drop down menu.

It is the same menu as you get when you connect several squeezeboxes at the same time. So if you see the dropdown when you do that this should also work. Am I correct in assuming that you can successfully stream to the other computers using stream.mp3? And that the only thing not working is that they all play the same music?

fcastillo

2007-05-28, 18:40

I wasn't able to stream to different computers, if i go to the website from any computer i'd change the song playing in the main computer. I'm re-installing Slimserver to see if the drop down menu appears after connecting several clients. Since i didn't see the menu, is there a way to not see the menu, so the client that connected only see his stream and nobody else? Or that is implemented in Slimserver? Maybe only an administrator can see everybody's stream. But actually that's not necessary.

bhaagensen

2007-05-28, 18:46

I wasn't able to stream to different computers, if i go to the website from any computer i'd change the song playing in the main computer. I'm re-installing Slimserver to see if the drop down menu appears after connecting several clients. Since i didn't see the menu, is there a way to not see the menu, so the client that connected only see his stream and nobody else? Or that is implemented in Slimserver? Maybe only an administrator can see everybody's stream. But actually that's not necessary.

The menu only appears AFTER you have started to stream to the other computers. If only one player is connected the menu does not show. So be sure that you have started to stream to all computers before looking for the menu. So you can not choose different music for the different players, and then start to stream. It has to be the other way around. If all else works I would not think there is anything wrong with your slimserver installation.

EDIT: Ahh, sorry I read your post again and see that you are doing it in the correct order. Also the webpage should look the same for all clients. Which skin are you using for the webpage ?

bhaagensen

2007-05-28, 18:58

I just attached a screenshot of mine, so you know what to look for. Its in the top right corner showing the text 192.168.1.101

fcastillo

2007-05-28, 19:00

so you're telling me if i started to stream to one computer, another user cannot start streaming a new one? they all have to started the connection before any stream began?

bhaagensen

2007-05-28, 19:17

so you're telling me if i started to stream to one computer, another user cannot start streaming a new one?

I probably used the wrong words and said connect instead of stream.

What I meant was that you should open http://ipadress:9000/stream.mp3 in itunes on all the computers you want play music on. Then look for the dropdown menu. It won't be visible before that. It does not matter from which computer you open the webinterface.

I realize my explanations are a bit flaky...

EDIT: You can take a look at the following page which explains streaming. Basically just repeat step 1-6 in that explanation from each computer you want to stream to.
http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?RemoteStreaming

fcastillo

2007-05-28, 20:15

Ok, i re-installed it, and now it works, i can stream to multiple user, different streams. Now it's working, but it only has one little problem everytime a new user start playing a stream the main web page that you see is the last user.
Ok, now, the people that is going to use this software is not good with technology so they won't know what's going on. If I use SoftSqueeze i can fix the problem, the user can only play music first through the players before they can access the website interface. In other words they can only access the website through the SoftSqueeze player, otherwise if they access the website first directly they'll see the last user that login interface, and they'll change the other user music, instead of their own.

bhaagensen

2007-05-29, 20:44

Good to hear its working. Yes I see what you mean. Try with a new post in the forums asking for how to restrict which players are visisble in the web interface. Someone might have a clever solution.